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Eunting Xritrri** 



By 

Ernest Valentine Johns 






Colonial Press Co., 314 Washington Street, Brooklyn, N. Y. 




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Copyright, 1916 

By 

Ernest Valentine Johns 




Sunning Srwrira 



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CONTENTS 



V — An Evening Reverie. 
VI— Derelicts. 
VII— In Fancy's Realm. 
VIII— The Eternal Plan. 
X — Song. 
XI — In Love. 
XII — Understanding. 
XIII— To My Wife. 
XIV— A Million Ages. 
XV— The Seal of Time. 
XVI— The First Bible. 
XVIII— The Dawning Eons. 

XXI— The Joy of Existence. 
XXVI— The Goal of Man. 
XXVII— Thoughts. 



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CONTENTS CONTINUED 



XXIX— Paradise. 
XXXI— Hope. 
XXXII— When Love Began. 
XXXV— Brothers of Mine. 
XXXVII— Must. 
XXXVIII— Where. 
XXXIX— To a Tree. 

XL — Song of The Evening Star. 
XLI — In Lonely Crowds. 
XLII — Evening Contemplation. 



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AN EVENING REVERIE. 

The sun goes down somewhere in the West 

And the long shadows cross the golden day, 

The world treads slowly home to rest 

With lonely night birds calling far way, 

While I, with keys of fancy, ope the gates of time 
And tread with silent awe its ages old, 

And dream and ponder in a foreign clime 
That earthly vapors never can unfold. 







DERELICTS. 

Some people's natures are to be 
Uncertain as chance or destiny — 
Forever wrapped in clouds of doubt 
They wander life's great journey out; 
Decreed from birth an aimless mote 
On sunlit seas of time to float — 
A break in the silent Song of Spheres, 
A shattered reed in the marsh of years, 
A pebble cast in a rising flood 
And hurled away in slime and mud. 







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IN FANCY'S REALM 

i do not care if the night is dark; 

My heart vibrates in ecstacy, 
My mind outstrips the flying lark 

And travels lightly far and free; 

And silver dews and flowers sweet 

Form carpets for my Fancy's feet. 

I do not care if morning's beams 

Shall bless the world in golden-red; 

I only live in the land of dreams, 

Where gleaming Fancy's light is shed ; 
Through portal-marbles of the night 
I wander far in love and light. 






, X 



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THE ETERNAL PLAN. 

If hurt and hate and care and woe, 

Were stricken from the list of fate, 

What joy or love could mortals know 
W T ith antithesis out of date? 

Could generous love be then content 
To grace a soul that didn't need, 

Or stretch the hand of lavishment 
To build a home or plant a seed ? 









No soulful music e'er would greet 

The lonely, longing sense of sound, 

Nor dreams of memory's morning sweet, 
In after life would e'er be found. 

Then we're convinced without a doubt 
That we could no improvement make 
Upon the scheme of things, nor take 

The good, and leave the evil out. 






IX 



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SONG. 



There's a spirit in the mountain, 
And a sound upon the sea, 

And a voice beyond the ocean 
That sings to you and me. 

When days are all forgotten, 
And ages flown away, 

We'll hear the Muses singing 
Beyond the Faraway. 




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X 



IN LOVE 

Eternal love! The balm of time- 
Stay with us all our days : 

Move all the world in joy sublime! 
To live in each other's praise! 



In glorious lands of gloaming 
Shall we forever roam — 

In love and rapture roaming; 
Verily Eden's home! 






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UNDERSTANDING. 

We cannot see, we cannot know, 
In human love and life intense, 
What hateful ruin and tears may flow 
From doubting virtue's eminence; 
Or how unjustly we may hurt 
With unconsidered shrug and sneer, 
With scornful anger; and pervert 
A golden heart beyond compare, — 
Whenever we won't understand 
That error is a human part, 
Or fail to grasp the erring hand 
Or kindly soothe the hurting heart. 






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XII 



TO MY WIFE. 

Jane, with you, my own, my gentle wife ; 
And pilot, Love, in the boat of life; 
Nothing can hurt us in journeying hence, 
Even Time shall give us treasures immense. 



XIII 



A MILLION AGES 

A million ages in this stone 

The varied gravels represent ; 

And primal forests, now unknown, 

Dispensed their ancient nourishment; 

And shells and pearls beneath the sea 
Lent all their charm and mystery 

To build its silent destiny, — 
A block of solid stone. 



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THE SEAL OF TIME. 

I heard the imurmur of nations old 

Through the silent haze of receding time, 

Where the sand-swept wastes of deserts told 
Of shifting ages sublime. 

I saw the shadows of voiceless things 

In the dreamy courts of an olden day, 

Where now the Arab's arrow sings 
And bats and lizards play. 

And Time's corroding fingers here 

Touching the face of colossal stone, 
Crumbling its atoms in empty air; 

By winds, for sage and cactus, sown; 
Has printed here 
The Seal of Time. 



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THE FIRST BIBLE. 

Far in the dawn's first gleam, 
When not a life was made, 

The Morning star's first beam 
Lighted a Sylvan shade. 

The world was fair and young 
With beautiful gardens there; 

But never a song was sung 

Though music was everywhere, 



There were the moon and stars, 
And the golden face of the sun, 

And shining sunset bars 

When smiling day was done. 



And Sylvan temples there, 

Arching a thousand miles, 

Where silence was the prayer 
In the dim forest aisles. 

No hate, nor fear nor mourning 
In the silent work of God, 

When He made the silver morning 
And planted the flowering sod. 

Then Truth, in robes of Might, 
Before the dawning day; 

Was given the power of Light 

Till planets shall crumble away 




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THE DAWNING EONS 

While lately I was dreaming 

In the murmuring wake of Things, 

I saw great armies of Ignorance 
Crowning a thousand kings; 

And there were Greed and Hate 
Commanding a murdering host; 

And Prejudice, old and great, 
A fierce, relentless ghost. 

And ignorance was singing 

"By all that Man uprears 
There I'll reign eternal 

On the throne of years." 



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XVIII 



But, in the misty eons 

Of the mighty Walls of Time, 
To the millions of Oppression 

And the followers of Crime 

I heard Muezzins calling 

From dimly litten towers, 
To prayers of Light, in science, 

For fields of Love and flowers- 
Flowers where the morning's 

Field of joy appears 
And no folly reigns eternal 

On the Throne of Years. 



XIX 



This mystic land in pictures 
By ever-gliding streams 

Beyond the bourne of sorrow, 
Now in my fancy gleams. 

And there are Houris planting, 
Where sweetly songs are rife, 

The gladsome hours of beauty 
In the Golden Urns of Life. 



And, deep in fragrant vernal, 

They'll blossom a thousand years ; 

And grow in their love eternal 
Around the Throne of Years. 




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THE JOY OF EXISTENCE. 

Is life a theme, 
Is life a plot, 
Is life a dream 
Of what is not? 

Is life eternal 
In regions vernal 

Of days diurnal? 

Is life a shade 
Of fleeting mist — 
A dream to fade 
Whene'er sun-kist? 

A doubtful play 
Ere evening's ray 

Of a single day? 



XXI 



; 



Is life a song 
On broken reeds 
Of Right and Wrong 
A tune of creeds? 

Or basic fact 

In deed and act — 

A plan exact ? 

We cannot know, 
Nor even feel 
The certain flow 
Of woe or weal — 

What forceful laws 
Behind all cause 

Infinity draws. 



XXII 



The song of birds 
In harvest fields, 
The loving words 
When evening yields 

The quiet repose 
In loving those 

Peace only knows. 

The mighty stars, 
And unknown worlds, 
The sandy bars 
And foaming whirls; 

The moonbeam's lance 
And fairy dance 

In fleeting trance. 




The sandy beach, 
The white sea shell, 
The tiny leech 
And forest dell; 

The lover's bliss 
And maiden's kiss 

That symbols this. 

A strong man's laugh ; 
Boisterous boys; 
And things of chaff, 
And children's toys, 

And dreams of Art, 
And music's heart ; 

As years depart. 



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And all that's bright; 
All joy and pain; 
And day and night. 
And heights to gain, 

And toil to spare 
For every year 

That finds us here. 







THE GOAL OF MAN 

To hear the harp of a million strings 
Upon the breezes blow, 

To feel the joy in a million things, 
To breathe — To love — To know; 

To join the shout in a world of song- 
Conquer the work you can, 

To dream — to make and live full long; 
This is the Goal of Man. 



XXV! 



THOUGHTS 

(When Contemplating Two Sculptured Lions) 

Designed by the craft of a Master Brain- 
Two primeval lions carved from stone; 

Linking by memory's mystic chain 

The present hour, with long, long ages flov 

In thought I travel through the ancient years 
To desert lairs of this fierce natured beast, 

Where growls and prowls amid the rocks a 
His awful companions of the starlit East. 

Perhaps a million years have passed away, 
And crumbling columns of some marble Tyi 

Fallen to fate and pass'd from memory's day, 
In the crucible of Time's all-melting fire 



XXVII 



Heard this great lion in his sinewy strength, 
Rending the silence with terrific roar ; 

Cowering beneath the moon until at length 
Man conquer'd this terror of the days of yore. 



And so, in contemplation by this stone, 
I see the Conqueror rising over all, 

All except "Thought" that stands supreme, alone, 
Carving its image on the "Eternal Wall." 



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PARADISE. 

Within the silent session 

Of the councils of the mind, 

Where the documents of reason 
And the deeds of love are signed 

I sat me down to ponder 

On many things that be — 

On the happiness to wonder 
At all the mystery ; 

On the life that's ever pleasant 
For the peasant or the king, 

In the future, past and present ; 
x\nd the good in everything. 

I thought of love and Heaven — 
Of the Eldorado planned — 

The hope to mortals given 
Beyond the shadow-land, 



XXIX 



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And of all there is in story 

Of a long celestial day 
When we have passed in glory 

Through the portals of the day. 

Then I saw the future kingdom 
In the ancient dream of God, 

With the golden cross and sceptre; 
And the "rising" from the sod. 

And I came to this conclusion, 

In these Ancient Halls of Night, 

That Paradise is ever 

In the heart of Love and Right. 



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XXX 



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HOPE. 

Beyond the sand bar's misty rim 
And liquid mountain's rolling brim, 
A power within that bosom hides 
That moves the everlasting tides — 
(And ships go down on its watery plain 
That never a man shall see again !) 
A power that grays the widow's curl 
And chills the heart of many a girl, 
And dims the homeless orphan's eye, 
But, what is this to you and I ? 
A star shines in the Eternal Eye 
While Hope still whispers "Bye and Bye 
We'll meet in some far happier sky." 



WHEN LOVE BEGAN. 

When, in the dim primeval day, 
When giant men wore only hair, 
And wild men started to the fray 
Bearing club and wooden spear ; 

Then love began 

In maid and man, 
And life has been a strange affair. 



When Pharoah built his desert tomb, 
Where sleep, at last, his hopes and fears 
Clad in midnight's silent gloom, 
The wonder of ten thousand years ; 

Then love began 

In maid and man, 
And love has been all joy and tears. 



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When Phidias' chisel could not cease 
To carve the forms his fancy saw, 
When Solon gave to ancient Greece 
The written maxims of the law; 

Then love began 

In maid and man, 
And love has been a theme of awe. 



When Mozart and his wife did sing 
The mighty music of the heart, 
With tuneful sounds in everything 
And love pervading every part; 

Then love began 

In maid and man, 
And love has been a painful dart. 




SSI 



When Bonaparte had carved the world 
And planted kingdoms here and there, 
And kingly thrones and armies hurled 
Like bubbles bursting in the air; 

Then love began 

In maid and man, 
And love has been a strange affair. 



In later days when Edison 
Upon the city, road and plain, 
Had turned electric currents on, 
And lighted ships upon the main ; 

Then love began 

In maid and man, 
And love is still a strange affair. 



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XXXIV 



BROTHERS OF MINE. 

Laughter and gloom in the city street, 
Faces of misery and faces sweet; 

Honk of cars and clattering noise, 

Men go by with sorrows and joys ; 

While I stand on the corner and muse 

On fleeting things that time may use. 

These are brothers of mine that pass, — 
This eager, weak and struggling mass : 

The millionaire with sparkling stone, 
The crippl'd beggar that hobbles on ; 

Poet and priest — all men of the Right 

And he who snuffs out life in the night. 



XXXV 



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And all their toils and love and fears, 

And dreams and hopes of all the years, 

Have all been mine on life's highway. 

So I can feel whate'er they may — 

All these of the world I can understand — 

The sum of their natures poor and grand. 



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"MUST" 

Within the realms of Giving — 

The nameless realms of Must, 

We find that life worth living 
Is mostly made of Trust; 

For Hope to Love is wed, 

Arrayed in a mist of dreams; 
And the flame of Life is fed 

From a million varied streams. 

And when the seed of Wisdom 
Is sown in fertile fields, 

All men may reap the harvest 
An unknown acre yields. 



XXXVII 



WHERE 

As this morn is bright and fair, 
Was it this way yesteryear ? 
For today I'm standing here, 
But, tomorrow echos, "Where?' 



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XXXVIII 



TO A TREE. 

Slender, verdant tree 

On the stony walk, 
Nature's ministry 

To passing city folk, 
Ornament of beauty 

On the sunny street, 
Nature's link of duty 

To Man in summer heat, 
You, a purpose, lie 

In God's infinity, 
Together ! You and I 

. Through all eternity, 
We are brother- forms 

In the Scheme of Things- 
Made to weather storms 

That every Winter brings. 



- 
XXXIX 



SONG OF THE EVENING STAR. 

From far away over the hills, 

Bright spirits are singing to me, 

And softly their music fills 

The airs of the highway and sea; 

And the golden gates of the sun 
Seen in the cloudlands afar, 

O, these are the wordsj everyone 

In the song of the Evening Star. 

And the fireflies gleaming in white 

Through the gloom of the meadow bar 

Are weaving the chorus of night 

In the song of the Evening Star. 

A yearning for beauty unknown 

And dreams of the angels that are ; 

O ! love is the wonderful tone 

In the song of the Evening Star. 






IN LONELY CROWDS 

Within these grimy city streets 
Where every struggling nation meets, 
Among the motely striving throngs 
And honking cars and sounding gongs, 
And buildings, gaunt and gray and high 
That hide the sun or starlit sky, 
And all the million tramping feet 
That make its varied life complete, 
In all these peopled blocks around, 
I find but loneliness profound. 



EVENING CONTEMPLATION 

The hand of Silence in the sun 
Points to golden minarets, 

When the shining day is done 
And its western glory gets 

Fires seraphic gently driven 

In the distant fields of heaven. 

All its wonder, love and awe 
In the Universal mind, 

Governed by the reign of Law 
In the Infinite designed; 

And all the ages new and old 
Hold its glories manifold. 



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XLII 



And far across the lonely miles 

Adown the spiral veil of years, 
The evening face of Eden smiles 

An answer to our morning prayers ; 
For all its glorious colors can 

Pervade the lowly dreams of man. 



